Public, Beyer Focus On Abuse Treatment

WILLIAMSBURG — A William and Mary junior told Virginia's lieutenant governor Friday that she would not have been raped at college if her high school had given classes on sexual abuse.

She was one of two dozen people to testify in Williamsburg to Lt. Gov. Don Beyer about his commission's recommendations for tougher laws and added treatment in the sexual assault of children.

Beyer's commission recommends a statewide education program to help young children know when they've been abused. But the College of William and Mary junior said high school students need just as much help.

"We talk about drugs and alcohol, but we don't talk about sex. It's a taboo subject," she said. "Secondary school is serene and calm. I don't think we're preparing them for this new environment."

She said high school is important because many people like herself are abused as children and then allow themselves to be raped in college. "If you grow up in an abusive family, you think that's normal. And then when you get raped, you think that's normal," she said. "You don't recognize your problem. We have to talk about sex and be really frank with people."

Beyer said opposition to sex education is strong in Virginia, and he wondered if the commission's recommendations for abuse education would make it through the General Assembly.

"We're living, unfortunately, in a world in which, as enlightened as we are in this room, we're fighting an uphill battle," he told the junior.

She replied, "Our conservatism is costing us millions of dollars. Because we're not willing to talk about it, we're having to spend money later to treat it."

Most of the witnesses detailed just how expensive treatment is as they urged Beyer to provide money to pay for the recommendations. They concentrated on the proposal to have Child Protective Services agencies take responsibility for children abused by strangers. Such agencies are already swamped by their mission to intervene when a child is abused by a parent, relative or teacher.

Dee Dozier, a social worker for the Newport News Department of Social Services, said caseworkers there handle an average of 27 cases a month. That's 10 more than federal guidelines recommend, she said. "I'd like adequate staffing for our current caseload, but you're talking about adding non-caretaker cases too," she said.

The commission will ask for $5.6 million to prevent, discover and treat child sexual abuse, but Beyer admits the money won't flow easily.